


Bonfire [Hearts]

by CharlieHesketh



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sweet Fluff, Tavern Tales, my favourite couple tbh, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 17:12:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4713971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlieHesketh/pseuds/CharlieHesketh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for the prompt “The inquisitor walking in on Krem flirting succesfully with Scout Harding, who thinks he's just adorable and handsome??” from tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bonfire [Hearts]

**Author's Note:**

> _and your love is like a soldier,  
>  loyal till you die._
> 
> \- Bonfire Heart, by James Blunt

Lace Harding was a lady that flushed easily but fought it bravely. She took her position as a scout of the Inquisition very seriously, and unprofessional behaviour, such as looking at Commander Rutherford’s behind for a tad too long, never really occurred to her.  
Okay, maybe it had occurred to her, once or twice.  
But she had never done such a thing, which was why she was currently highly annoyed with herself, yet at the same time found the burning of her cheeks pleasant. The tavern had seemed such an appropriate place to celebrate the fact she had been allowed to return to Skyhold’s warmth after weeks at the Storm Coast. Now, squeezed between rowdy chargers, all pleasantly inebriated, the scout found herself smiling at one of them, in a manner that was unfamiliar to her personally - even if she may have discussed these things out of literary interest in Varric’s novels.  
She was just about to ask him - Krem, he’d said, but she had already known - whether he had any grand tales from lands she hadn’t been to, when The Iron Bull gave Skinner a rough shove, shifting the whole row of the bench, and, Harding being at the end, landed her on the ground.  
A choir of laughter sounded, and she laughed along - but she also felt the ale rise to her head, and perhaps it was time to call it a night.  
As she got up, she bade her farewells to the others, making a mental note of finding Krem alone sometime these days. It was hard to talk with the chargers getting more rowdy by the second. She slipped out of the Tavern easily, breathing in the brisk evening air.

\--

He had been so bloody close to asking her something personal when Bull had decided to shove her off the couch, and Krem was more than a little pissed.  
“Ah,” Bull laughed, obviously having caught his discontented face, “did we take away your entertainment? Didn’t know you were planning on getting laid tonight.”  
“I wasn’t,” he bit, “just having a conversation.”  
“Just go after her, Vint,” Skinner snorted, “walk her home, nice and safe, don’t know whether Commander Rutherford is on the prowl, after all. All the scouts have been staring after him.”  
“Yeah, sure, the commander is such a threat,” Krem rolled his eyes but got up anyway. “I’ll just go after her to apologize on your behalf, like I always do.”  
He slipped out of the tavern through the same door that Harding had left to, and it only took a little jogging to catch up with her. She looked up, surprised, as she had stopped a few steps up the stairs towards the castle, making them about the same height.  
“Krem?” she asked, curiously. “Did I forget something?”  
“Nah,” he said, “just wanted to apologize. The oaf never does it himself.”  
“Ya didn’t have to,” the scout said, still rubbing the sore spot on her thigh. “Follow me, I mean. Wasn’t anything painful - and it was time to find some sleep, anyway.”  
“The boss can be a bit rough on the edges,” Krem shrugged his shoulders. They’d been having a pleasant chat, after all. Perhaps a bit more than pleasant. “Just wanted to see if you were, well, ya’know, okay.”  
“I spent six weeks at the Storm Coast,” she responded, deadpan, freckles moving along as she gave him a crooked smile. “Really, your boss ain’t half as scary as he’d wish he’d be.”  
It made him laugh, and he clasped his hands together. “Yeah, well, we gotta keep up the pretence, see, couldn’t have everyone know he’s actually kinda nice.”  
“Can’t imagine it’s a very hard job.”  
“Nah, the eyepatch usually does half the work for us.”  
“And the horns?”  
“You’d be surprised at how many people like those horns,” Krem groaned. With people, he meant (mostly) girls, though there were some stray farmer boys that had pined after the boss during his time at the chargers.  
“You included?” Harding teased, obviously not expecting a serious answer, but, in a fit of boldness, Krem’s smile turned mischievous.  
“Nah, I’m more one for freckles.”

\--

Yglis Lavellan was someone who prided himself on not being curious, but it seemed Dorian had rubbed of on him - in more than one way - and as he saw Krem going after his personal favourite scout, his lover had nudged his ribs in order to have him find out what they were up to.  
“Not my business,” the elf had pouted, but Dorian had shot him the “do-this-and-you-won’t-regret-it” glance, which was, inevitably, one of Yglis’s weak spots. As such, the inquisitor had gone after the pair, partly afraid the chargers had been a bit too rowdy with the scout.  
He soon found that this was not the case, because as he approached the stairs towards Skyhold, he saw Harding positively flushed, and Krem, leaning in a little, murmering something about freckles and cute scars on cheeks.  
He quickly shot behind a bush, hoping to catch a little more of the conversation, which was futile. The wind carried the words away from him. However, just as he planned to return to the warm tavern and some Tevinter mage still comfortably inside, Harding leant over, laughing and pressing a kiss to Krem’s cheek, before leaving.  
Yglis teased Krem mercilessly the week after, but he had the idea that the charger didn’t find that such a terrible price to pay. 


End file.
